Indian independence: the challenge of today

supporting the naval mutiny in 1946

by D Raja
General Secretary, Communist Party of India

 On 15 August 1947 the people of India won their independence from colonial rule after a long historic struggle. The communists played a glorious role in this struggle.
 A group of committed, intellectually sharp and patriotic young people started coming together to build a nationwide organisation in the second decade of the 20th century. Their first big success was the foundation of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) in 1920, which brought progressive and nationalist leaders of the working class together. The AITUC challenged the anti-worker policies of the British Raj and also politicised the workers on long-term political demands, including independence.
It was a time of significant global and domestic churning with the end of the First World War, the success of the Bolshevik Revolution led by Lenin in Russia and the arrival of Mahatma Gandhi on the Indian political scene. The communists took the onus of radicalising the agenda of the freedom movement by working both within and outside the Indian National Congress and gained significant successes that proved crucial for our country.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) was founded on 26 December 1925 in Kanpur. The coming together of communists from the length and breadth of the country became a very effective platform to push progressive demands and make them part of the freedom struggle. Maulana Hasrat Mohani, who was the Chair of the reception committee of the Kanpur Conference, was the first one to demand ‘complete independence’ from the British, marking a significant departure from the earlier demands of limited autonomy. Further, communists were also the first to demand a Constituent Assembly for our country.
The CPI took the lead in organising peasants through the All India Kisan Sabha, students through the All India Students’ Federation, writers and intellectuals through the Progressive Writers’ Association in 1936 and artists through the India Peoples’ Theatre Association in 1943.
Meanwhile, the British Government tried their best to crush the emerging communist movement but failed in the wake of the support communists received from the people and the role they were playing in the freedom struggle. All this culminated in what’s aptly called the ‘Last War of Indian Independence’, the Royal Indian Navy mutiny of 1946. Inspired by the Free Indian Army of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and supported by the CPI, the sailors went on strike defying the orders of their British superiors. The CPI called a strike in their support in Bombay and hundreds of thousands joined in. Violence from the British started proving counter-productive and the foreign rulers were made to realise that their days in India were numbered and that people were no longer going to tolerate foreign yoke.
The CPI’s understanding of society and the agenda for their future endeared it to the most downtrodden in society. The communists went to the people explaining the nature of exploitation in factories and fields and mobilised them. At the Kanpur Conference itself, M Singaravelu Chettiar opposed the inhuman practice of ‘untouchability’ and the CPI became one of the frontrunners against the caste system. Equipped with the modern and scientific ideology of Marxism and with the rich contributions of social reformers, the CPI went ahead in mobilising women and took the lead in the struggle against patriarchy. The CPI’s idea of a free, egalitarian India, bereft of the hierarchies of class, caste and patriarchy moved millions of people and they joined the fight for justice and equality in society.
As we approach the eighth decade of independence and the centenary of our Party it is imperative to note what brought us closer to the people and what challenges lie ahead in our continuing and uncompromising struggle for the values we upheld and the society we dream of building – a classless, casteless nation ensuring social, political and economic justice for all our citizens.
The RSS [Hindu nationalist movement] was formed in the same year as the CPI. But their propaganda is bereft of positive values. Instead of fighting the British, the RSS identified minorities and communists as the enemy. The RSS and its leadership remained subservient to the British when communists were making supreme sacrifices and it was the RSS’ poisoning of the political environment that led to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, leading to a ban on the RSS. After the ban was lifted, the RSS worked covertly and overtly towards the goals of a hierarchical, theocratic Hindu Rashtra [Hindu Nation] and many affiliated organisations in all fields of life have mushroomed around it that are collectively called the Sangh Parivar [RSS Family]. The ruling party, the BJP, is nothing but the political arm of the RSS and it harbours the same casteist, exploitative and misogynist ideology. How the CPI will take on this ideological challenge and reinstate a progressive, socialist agenda is the most important question that concerns us today.
Though we have a glorious history of fighting the British and then contributing significantly in the shaping of our nation after winning independence that should not be taken as a relic but as inspiration in moving ahead with struggles with increased vigour. Our task and concern has always been the same, the welfare of the people of India. When the people are reeling under RSS-BJP misrule and their divisive and communal ideology threatens to break our society, our task is to move closer to the people in their everyday lives.
 This is no mean task given the ascendancy of RSS-BJP and their arsenal of surveillance and misinformation. The RSS is infiltrating the bureaucracy and all wings of the State. This poses the threat of debasing our secular, democratic republic and to impose a theocratic Hindurashtra. As Dr Ambedkar [the architect of the Indian Constitution] warned we must save independence and our secular, democratic republic before such a calamity happens.
 We must remain ever vigilant to protect the values that we inherited from that great freedom movement. The Party should intensify its struggles and campaigns not only for the immediate demands but for our ultimate goal of establishing a socialist society in our country.